A two-stage local search heuristic for solving the steelmaking continuous casting scheduling problem with dual shared-resource and blocking constraints

Pieter Moerloose () and Broos Maenhout ()
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Pieter Moerloose: Ghent University
Broos Maenhout: Ghent University

Operational Research, 2023, vol. 23, issue 1, No 2, 43 pages

Abstract: Abstract The steelmaking continuous casting scheduling problem concerns the construction of production schedules for steelmaking from the basic oxygen furnace to the continuous casters. Start and completion times are determined to complete the operations associated with different steel charges. The real-life problem under study comprises different complicating dual-resource transportation and blocking constraints and embeds routing and sequencing flexibility to process charges of different steel grades. In this paper, we present a mixed-integer linear problem and propose a two-stage local search heuristic adjusting the charge sequence and machine assignments to minimise makespan and waiting times of charges. The algorithm makes use of a novel charge-sequence initialisation method and local search operator to find promising neighbouring schedules. Computational experimentation is performed on real-life instances to validate heuristic design choices and benchmark the proposed method to alternative methodologies. Results demonstrate that the proposed heuristic provides better initial solutions and a faster convergence to high-quality solutions in short run times.

Keywords: Scheduling; Two-stage local search; Flexible job shop; Steelmaking continuous casting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s12351-023-00760-2

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